Box with locking handle



June 3, 1952 TAYLOR 2,598,945

BOX WITH LOCKING HANDLE Filed July 27, 1949 n I l I I I I Patented June 3, 1952 BOX WITH LOCKING HANDLE Gerald A. Taylor, Troy, N. Y., assignor to Cohoes Envelope Company, Inc., Cohoes, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application July 27, 1949, Serial No. 107,060

3 Claims.

This invention relates to an improved container or box provided with a novel handle arrangement adapted automatically to lock and hold the box closed when it is lifted by the handle. The construction embodies a handle having end portions extending through the top wall of the box and attached at their free ends to the top wall at points permitting flaps carried by the closure panel to be disposed between the handle and the top wall when the handle is in released and depressed position. When the box is lifted by the handle, the flaps are gripped between the handle and top wall and hold the closure panel in closed position. The production of an improved box of this nature comprises the primary object of the invention.

The box can be constructed of paperboard or other suitable material and while the handle will ordinarily be constructed of like material it can be made of twisted paper, rope or such material as seems most suitable and satisfactory. A further feature of the invention includes enlarged heads carried on the free ends of the flaps and cooperating diverging end portions on the handle for providing abutments engaging with such ends to lock the box in closed position when lifted by the handle.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a box comprising the invention,

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the box, partially broken away.

Fig. 3 illustrates the blank which forms the box,

Fig. 4 is a sectional view, taken on line 44 of Fig. 1, and showing the box in partially open position. 7

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view'taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 2.

The container illustrated in the drawing is a suitcase type box constructed from paperboard. The box blank I0 is a single piece of paperboard cut to the shape illustrated in Fig. 3. The blank is creased along fold lines l2 and I4 and the side wings [6 are folded over onto the body and stapled at IS. The blank thus constructed is then foldable on the lines I2 and I3 to form the box 20 comprising a body portion 22, a top wall 24 and a closure panel 26.

The top wall 24 is provided with two openings 28 to receive a handle 30 embodying an intermediate hand gripping portion 32 and two end portions 34. The two end portions extend downwardly through the tWo openings 28 and their free ends are secured adhesively or otherwise to the top wall at 36. The points 36 are spaced remote from the openings 28 toward the ends of the top wall and the end portions of the handle adjacent to the intermediate portion diverge at 38 in a direction inwardly of the top wall. The construction and arrangement is such that two openings 40 are formed between the handle and top wall when the handle is in the depressed position shown in Fig. 5.

The free end of the closure panel 26 provides a tuck 42 including two locking flaps 44 and two end flaps 45. When the closure panel is closed to the position shown in Fig. 1, the tuck 42 and side wings l6 fit closely within the body 22 including the top wall 24, and the locking flaps are disposed within the openings 40. When the container is lifted by the handle, the end portions 34 are drawn outwardly and grip the locking flaps 44 against the top wall. The free ends of the locking flaps are preferably enlarged at 48 to provide abutment shoulders for engaging against the handle portions 34 and positively hold the closure panel in closed position. It will be apparent that outward movement of the diverging portions 38 of the handle contracts the openings 40 and forms a positive engagement of the handle portions 34 with the enlarged heads 48.

The side wings l6 project outwardly from the fold lines 13 and i4, and the folds at 50 provide pockets within which are received the flaps 45. This engagement of the flaps 45 within the pockets serves to maintain the closure panel firmly associated with the body 22 and top wall 24.

I claim:

1. A container including a body portion, a top wall and a closure panel, a tuck formed at one end of said closure panel and underlying a portion of said top wall when in closed position, a pair of spaced apertures being formed in said top wall, a handle having an intermediate portion disposed outwardly of and along the top wall and two end portions extending inwardly through said apertures in the top wall and attached to the top wall at points remote from said apertures toward the ends of the top .w' said handle, when in depressed position, pain bent to provide two downwardly extending openi'ngs and two spaced locking flaps carried by the panel larger and provide abutments adapted to be 1o Number engaged by said diverging portions of l ne handle and prevent movement of the locking flaps in the panel opening direction.

3. The container defined in claim 1 plus two flaps integral with the ends of the top wall and folded inwardly beneath the top wall and tor-me ing pockets therebetween, and two flaps integral with and outside of said locking flaps and \disposed to fit within said pockets when the closure panel is in closed position.

'GERALD A. TAYLOR.

REFERENCES CITED he io o ilig r n es pane of reco d in t :file of 2131118 patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date 219,913 Buckingham et al. Dec. 17, 1878 2,344,009 Trogman Mar. 14, 1944 2,490,?r5f7 Stone Dec. 6, 1949 15 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 176,505 Switzerland June 1'7, 1935 

